There’s about two and a half hours of content here, so hopefully no one’s disappointed on length at least. In the main episode, Jamison, Lee, and I discuss what we’ve been drinking, the “craft vs. crafty” distinction, and beer cultures around the world. We also play a little beer geek game around barrel-aged beer. In the bonus episode, Rob Derbyshire of Hopzine and I have a long and free-flowing conversation about the UK beer scene, craft beer vs. real ale, and a wide variety of other topics. If you listen carefully I even make a Doctor Who joke!

0:00 to 17:40 Introductions and what we’ve been drinking. Jamison: Deschutes Jubelale, Scotch Silly, Firestone Walker Parabola. Lee: Boxing Rock Vicar’s Cross DIPA, 2012 Oskar Blues Ten Fidy. Daniel: Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf, various other Three Floyds beers, and a visit to Revolution Brewing in Chicago. Different kinds of experiences at breweries and brewpubs?17:40 to 25:55 BrewDog’s definition of “craft beer” for the European market. http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/defining-craft-beer25:55 to 46:40 That leads into the “craft vs crafty” distinction which has been a major conversation piece in beer blogs for the last few months. Does it make sense to make a distinction between a true local brewery vs. a large corporation if we don’t make that distinction in other areas of our lives? What happens if and when large American breweries start to make really good beers? Is that even possible?46:40 to 1:14:27 Beer culture around the world. Also, we respond to a few of our live comments.1:14:27 to 1:27:22 A barrel-aging beer game Jamison came up with. Fun!1:27:22 to 1:29:21 Wrapping up and where to find our stuff on the internet.

0:00 to 18:00 What We’ve Been Drinking. Ryan’s drinking a session IPA (around 5.2%) and just got back from Germany, so he’s had tons of hefeweizen, schwartzbier, and a bit of Berliner Weisse. Lots of Weihenstephaner. I’m drinking a Bell’s Two Hearted, which is a major shock to those who know me. I’ve been trying to drink beers that are not among my favorites lately, but in this episode I’m back to those favorites in a big way, as later I open up a Short’s Huma-Lupa-Licious. I mention that I would have Samuel Adams Tasman Red posted by the time this podcast went up, but I had issues with the video files and will have to re-shoot in order to upload it.

18:00 to 29:45 In our very first episode we talked about Sierra Nevada adding a second facility in Asheville, NC, and now New Belgium has picked Asheville as their location for a new facility. Since Lagunitas announced that they’re putting in a facility in Chicago, this seems to be a very real trend among the mid-sized and large-scale microbrewery market. Will the larger breweries “drown out” their smaller, more local competitors? Will there be ingredient shortages in things like malt and hops? I also mention the Beersmith Podcast 32, where Brad Smith talks about developing hop varieties.

29:45 to 33:30 We took a little break, and when we come back Ryan is cracking his last bottle of Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust. Ryan also teases us because he’s going to the Cask Ale Festival in San Diego where he’ll get to have Zombie Dust on cask. Bastard.

33:30 to 45:30 Session Beer Day! Lew Bryson founded it, and noted beer internet curmudgeonDing has some issues with it. Namely, that session beer can never be more than 4.0% ABV, despite the general American standard of 4.0%. Is a half a percent really worth this much argument? Ryan has a proposal for those Englishpersons who attack those of us who refer to beers above 4.0% as “session,” by saying that he’d like to take the term “IPA” from the Brits — if you’re not making a six or seven percent beer with huge hops, you’re not making an IPA.

45:30 to 60:01 Beer Regionality. Where you’re consuming the beer you’re consuming matters, at least in terms of what your palate is used to and what you’re most likely to enjoy. German beers, English beers, Czech beers, and various regions of the US are mentioned. Also, a shout-out to the guys at Craft Beer Radio. I think that’s three different podcasts I name-checked in this one episode; do I win a prize?